New leadership at Bell Media was officially revealed today, and it’s an exec from outside the TV industry.
The media co has named former Universal Music president and CEO Randy Lennox president of entertainment production and broadcasting, a different title than what Phil King, who exited the company yesterday, held and including a different portfolio of oversight.
Lennox will oversee independent and in-house-production for Bell Media conventional, specialty, pay and digital media. He will also oversee local TV and national radio (English and French), which didn’t fall under King’s reporting line, but not sports, which did.
Reporting to Lennox are TSN president Stewart Johnston on the English sports side and Tracey Pearce, as head of specialty and pay and Mike Cosentino, head of CTV networks and CraveTV on the programming side. On the French-language sports side, Gerry Frappier as been promoted to president of TV and RDS.
King’s departure was part of a larger executive reshuffling yesterday at Bell Media. Also let go were Chris Benoit, president of TV and radio in Quebec, Chris Gordon, president of radio and local TV and Adam Ashton, SVP of English TV and business operations.
Elsewhere, Domenic Vivolo has been promoted from EVP, content sales and distribution marketing to become president of content sales, marketing and digital products.
As head of Universal Music, Lennox’s work has crossed over into the TV realm often, and has been involved with the production of the MMVAs and The Juno Awards. He is also a member of Canada’s Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.
“Randy joins us at a pivotal time as the media industry experiences significant change,” noted Turcke in a release. “We look forward to his expertise in creating new revenue opportunities in television, radio and digital, including building strategic alliances and special, tent-pole events for our key brands.”
Taking over for Lennox at Universal Music is Jeffrey Remedios, the well-known co-founder of independent Toronto music label Arts & Crafts.
